Crisis averted? Dustin Pedroia not expected to miss time after foul ball scare

It was difficult to avoid a flashback to 2010, when Dustin Pedroia crumpled to the ground after slamming a foul ball off his left foot in San Francisco and took many of the hopes of the Red Sox‘ season along with him. On Saturday, in the bottom of the eighth inning of an eventual 6-1 Red Sox victory over the Yankees, there was at least a hint of history repeating when Pedroia — on his 30th birthday, no less — once again blasted a foul ball into his left leg and went down like a shot.

He remained in the dirt in front of home plate, likely quickening the pulses of a number of his teammates.

“At this point we can’t lose anybody. If it’s Pedey, [David Ortiz] or a bullpen guy ‘ we can’t lose anybody. So it scares you,” admitted catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia. “Obviously that’s the foot he’s broke before so we don’t want him to reinjure it. Thankfully I think it was a little higher I think so it didn’t get right on the foot. But regardless if he broke it he’d be out there playing, especially in this situation.”

Still, the Sox would be relieved not to have to test that proposition. And, initial impressions suggest that they will not have to do so.

Pedroia did not hit the foul ball off the navicular bone in his left foot — he now wears a pad over the area to avoid just such a scenario — but instead hit it off his shin, just above the left ankle. He stayed in the game to complete the plate appearance — a strikeout against Boone Logan that punctuated an 0-for-5 contest — but was replaced for the top of the ninth by Brock Holt.

Manager John Farrell said after the game that the second baseman is “sore,” but after a fluoroscan taken at Fenway Park came back negative (meaning that it did not offer evidence of a fracture), the Sox believe that worst-case scenarios have been averted.

“At this point, we don’t anticipate missing any time,” said Farrell. “Right now, everything points to [the injury] being a negative [non-fracture] situation. If he comes in tomorrow with any increased soreness, we’ll take every precaution needed.”

Pedroia is hitting .292 with a .371 OBP and .402 slugging mark. Despite his hitless contest on Saturday, he made a number of tremendous defensive plays en route to a whopping eight assists.